Is not spending money the same as earning money?

Today I present to you the handle/wand of my central vacuum.  It broke 3 months ago so my lovely husband splinted it with a piece of wood...and duct tape.  I thought this was a temporary fix until I ordered a new handle attachment...then I found out said attachment was $259...yikes.  The central vacuum is 15 years old and the motor makes distressing sounds but I don't want to replace the entire system when only the handle of the hose is broke.  Therefore I gently vacuum and Scott installs a new splint periodically.  

I really hate to spend money on something as boring as a vacuum cleaner.  I only want to spend money on fun things like travel.  

When we were first married we worked at fairly low-paying jobs...and bought our old farmhouse for a reasonable price.  We were just starting to make a bit of progress 3 years in when we decided to have a baby....then another one....then since it was really important to us to have one of us at home while the boys were young...I did not return to work.  This meant living on one income.  We made it work by living in our farmhouse as it was for 10 years without spending any money renovating it.  I did a hilarious combination of jobs while I was at home with the boys to make extra money...they included:  book keeper, math tutor, wedding cake maker, dog groomer...and I also sold eggs, cheesecake and organic vegetables that we grew at a local farmer's market.  Needless to say although these jobs kept life interesting....we were not rich.

Eventually we renovated our farmhouse doing most of the work ourselves and got to the fairly comfortable stage we are in now.  But after staying at home for so many years with our boys...I did not want to return to work, so I attended art and design college for 3 years and became a potter so that I could make an income but still be fairly independent.  Also in this time Scott decided to become self-employed and work from home.

Our income is fairly undependable so we basically live on as little as we can even when we are busy and making more money then when things slow down we have enough saved to see us through the slow times.  

I am willing to make sacrifices in order to live on basically one full-time income.  The place I get my hair cut charges $20 (whereas the dog's haircut costs $50...how I envy that golden retriever).  I cut Scott's hair myself....and make everything I can home made.  We don't eat a lot of meat which suits me fine anyway.  We rarely go to restaurants for meals (living 30 miles from the nearest city helps).  We usually buy our cars new and keep them for 7-10 years.  We had a Jeep Cherokee for so long that our sons were both in car seats when we bought it and the oldest one drove it to university when he left home.  This post has gotten so long and rambling I'm tempted to delete it...but there is more to say...I think I'll stop now...but there will be part 2...and part 3 of this so be warned.